First Orientation!
We're so excited! Today was officially the beginning of forming the Peruvian Board of Directors of EGM-Peru!!
The orientation process consists of 2 board meetings of the whole group and 2 additional sessions that we are doing on an individual or small group basis. Today was the first individual session with a pastor from a remote region of Peru who came in on a 10 hour bus in order to meet with us.
We sat over our kitchen table from the time we picked him up at the station at 6am, through lunch until he left the house at 3:45! Much was accomplished - he's stoked about EGM and one step more ready to lead the ministry here.
We're exhausted and feel like we cannot speak one more word of Spanish for a week (unfortunately we have plans tomorrow morning!)
Praise the Lord that He is getting the ball rolling.
The orientation process consists of 2 board meetings of the whole group and 2 additional sessions that we are doing on an individual or small group basis. Today was the first individual session with a pastor from a remote region of Peru who came in on a 10 hour bus in order to meet with us.
We sat over our kitchen table from the time we picked him up at the station at 6am, through lunch until he left the house at 3:45! Much was accomplished - he's stoked about EGM and one step more ready to lead the ministry here.
We're exhausted and feel like we cannot speak one more word of Spanish for a week (unfortunately we have plans tomorrow morning!)
Praise the Lord that He is getting the ball rolling.
New Bikes
John has always told Eliana that when her callus from sucking her fingers while sleeping goes away she will get a bike. Well two weeks ago she stopped sucking her fingers and Josiah stopped using is pacifier... so they got Bikes. Josiah was taking a nap during this video, so he hasn't learned yet, but we are excited when he does. Here is Eliana in her first 10 minutes. We need to get them helmets!
Lets do some praying
Well we are at a turning point in the ministry. We are in the process of inviting 13 Peruvian Christian Leaders to come together to form EGM-PERU. We have invited about half and are patiently (sometimes not so patiently) waiting as they pray and seek the Lord in this decision. We have a few more meetings important meetings this week. Please pray for the following list of names, sorry there isn't more information about them, but this is after all a blog.
Luis, Charo, Crisologo, Marcos, Christina, Rodrigo, Robi, Samuel, Juan Jose, Edwin, Edit, Gustavo, and Carlos.
Thanks!
Luis, Charo, Crisologo, Marcos, Christina, Rodrigo, Robi, Samuel, Juan Jose, Edwin, Edit, Gustavo, and Carlos.
Thanks!
On the family front:
I think every Christian family struggles with finding the right way to teach their kids about service, about the kingdom of God, about the realities of the world. It's the same for us.
We have recently been so excited about the opportunity to come alongside our friends in a ministry project they are involved in in El Paraiso de Santa Maria. They are ministering among the poor and we have had the chance to accompany them a couple Saturdays and holidays. Below are some pictures of a day when we shared about Jesus with the kids in the public school and then fed them lunch. We got to meet the 4 teachers who teach full-time, being paid only by small offerings from the parents who, themselves, are struggling to survive. They are trying to give these kids a future, a way out of poverty. Thank the Lord for them! And thank the Lord for calling our friends, Robbie and Elita, to minister in this community.
El Paraiso de Santa Maria
Our friends' ministry in "El Paraiso de Santa Maria," (which by the way is far from a paradise) has given us the opportunity on a couple occasions to teach the kids about generosity. We tell Eliana that we are going to go visit some kids who have very few toys, and since she has lots of toys, maybe she wants to give some to them. She carefully and joyfully selects them and then passes them out to kids when we go.
On this trip, Robbie and Elita had planned a "de-parasite campaign" of distributing pills. For many people in this community, the cost in gas or firewood to boil the water is just too high, so they end up with parasites that cause severe malnourishment, especially in children.
Here's me and Elita with her uncle and her mom, in front of her mom's home.
We just had the most amazing meeting.
We are in the process of inviting members to the Board of Directors of EGM-Peru. Some are people we know well and are already invested in EGM and ready to get started. Others will be representatives appointed by denominational leaders who have committed to support the ministry in that way.
This afternoon we went to meet with the head of the largest denomination in Peru. Pastor Rodrigo had already expressed his full support and we went today to receive his recommendation for the board. However, instead of giving us a recommendation, he asked to be considered himself. This is a leader who is responsible for 5,000+ churches among various other ministry responsibilities and he said that it would be his great joy to serve with us in EGM-Peru. The phrases that he repeated over and over included, "for the children" and "unconditional support."
We are floored, humbled and so excited.
God is evaporating our fears and building up this ministry by His own hand - His own calling on Peruvian Christians who love children and want to see churches reach and disciple them.
Newest Mailing... coming to your house next week
Hi. If you are on our mailing list, you should get this next week in the mail. If you want to see it in color, here it is!
